There is new evidence that the coronavirus epidemic in China might be past its peak. There has been a decrease in the number of new patients infected with the Covid-19 virus, as well as fewer deaths per day. Though the threat of the virus is not altogether gone, this certainly is good news and could be a signal that things in China are on their way back to normality.
Meanwhile, President Xi Jinping announced that China’s growth targets for 2020 would not change, despite the disruptions caused by the coronavirus epidemic. The President expects the same annual output and GDP growth, which many analysts took to mean that the government will offer generous stimulus packages to help reach those targets by the end of the year.
These positive developments in China had a favorable effect on the stock markets. Both the Chinese and European stock indices are making gains today. The US stock markets will likely be in the green tomorrow, but for now they are closed because today is Presidents’ Day in the United States.
Besides the improvement seen in the stock markets, the overall global economic climate remains bad. Last week the eurozone disappointed investors with poor growth, an achievement which Japan repeated today. Moreover, investors are still unsure of the extent of the damage caused by the coronavirus to the economy of China, as well as affected neighboring states like Hong-Kong, Singapore, and Thailand.
